Thomas Preining has opened the 2026 DTM season with the perfect script — a home win at the Red Bull Ring for the Austrian and Manthey EMA Porsche, secured through a brilliantly-timed pit stop and held against late pressure from a charging Lucas Auer when a safety car closed the race a lap early.
Maro Engel, the Mercedes-AMG Team Ravenol driver, had set the tone by converting pole into a strong opening stint, with Preining unable to bridge the gap on track. The Porsche pole-sitter at the front was beyond reach until the pit window opened. "It was a tough first half of the race," Preining said afterwards. "I was trying my best to catch Maro, but he did a phenomenal job and was driving really well and I couldn't get close enough. And then luckily we jumped them in the pits."
The undercut, executed with surgical precision by Manthey EMA, proved decisive. "Big thanks to my team. The pit stop was fantastic and we picked the right lap for the strategy as well," Preining said. "In the end, everything worked out beautifully."
The race was further complicated by an early safety car that had threatened to compress the strategy window, and a second neutralisation in the closing laps when Kelvin van der Linde's car stopped on track. With Auer hunting hard on fresher rubber and the gap shrinking by the lap, the Porsche driver admitted he was relieved when the chequered flag came out under safety car. "Until it was not confirmed that there is no restart, I was not ready to calm down or relax," he said. "Luki had some really strong pace at the end. So that didn't disturb me too much, but I wasn't too unhappy with the race being over a lap early."
For Auer, the result was a debut weekend boost for Mercedes-AMG Team Landgraf. Climbing from fourth on the grid to second is a strong start to a campaign that begins under fresh ownership for the team. "It was a pretty perfect start coming from P4. My team did a mega job. I'm really proud, to be honest," the Austrian said. "Unfortunately we couldn't finish the last lap. I think it would have been at least a good show."
Auer was clear about what he was waiting for in those final laps. "You always wait for a mistake because it's quite tough to overtake. We were on similar base. I would say I had a tyre advantage which helped me a bit, but anyway, you wait for a mistake and then try to send it somewhere." The mistake never came.
Engel completed the podium in third for Mercedes-AMG Team Ravenol, capping a strong day for the AMG camp despite missing out on the win after his pole.
The other talking point of the weekend has been the new-spec Pirelli tyre, designed to warm up faster and create more strategic variation through the pit window. Preining gave it a strong endorsement after the race. "The target was to have a tyre that warms up faster, that there is more strategy involvement and that there is more exciting racing after the pit stops as well. So I think in that regard they fully achieved the target," he said. "In terms of degradation it was completely normal. This is not the highest-tech track of the calendar, but it's a good first sign and still lots to learn."
With Race 2 still to come on Sunday and the Pirelli learning curve still steep across the field, Preining warned against reading too much into a single weekend. "We still obviously have 15 races ahead, but it's a perfect start to the season — and especially on home ground, I couldn't ask for more."
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*Originally published on [Motorsports Global](https://motorsports.global/article/preining-dtm-2026-red-bull-ring-race-1-win-engel-auer-pirelli). Visit for full coverage.*
